Media devices, or media players, have become extraordinarily popular the past few years. The number of models and the number of media players of each model produced is phenomenal. This rapid growth has stressed the testing capabilities of media player manufacturers. However, this testing needs to be performed to ensure that a media player operates in its intended manner for a user.
Media players are often connected to computers, docking stations, and other devices either directly or through a cable. These docking stations and cables are routinely connected and disconnected from these devices. Accordingly, it is desirable to test these media players by connecting and disconnecting them in a manner that models the real-world environment that they will be exposed to.
The most accurate way to model a user connecting and disconnecting a media player from a docking station or cable is to have a test operator perform that function in a test environment. However, this is an undesirable procedure for many reasons.
For example, the media player typically has one or more pins that make contact with one or more pins on a docking station or cable. These pins may become damaged during testing, thus lowering production yield. Also, some tests may be designed to measure time, for example, the length of time that a battery on the media player takes to charge to a specified level. If an operator manually connects a cable to start the charging process, the time to charge to the specified level cannot be accurately determined.
Also, updated software and firmware for previous and new models are regularly released. These releases are provided to users, typically over the Internet. Software that resides on a user's computer that is used on conjunction with a media player, for example to load media on the media player, is similarly updated. It is thus important to ensure that these updates do not cause problems for users once the updates are loaded on their media players.
Thus, it is desirable to be able to automate the process of connecting and disconnecting a media player during testing. It is also desirable to have a test system that can update software and firmware on a media player, and then test the updated media player. It is further desirable to have a test system that can update a test computer with new software as part of the testing procedure.